So I’ve given myself a deadline. As of 1st March 2010 (that’s just over 3 months away!) I will no longer be working for someone else. I wanted to do it for about a year now, but always found excuses not to (what if I get pregnant? I will need someone to pay me my maternity money; we are buying our first home – we need 2 fixed incomes to manage that!; what if I won’t be able to earn enough money with my photography? etc, etc, etc.).
I went through a number of stages before arriving to a conclusion that what I need is to quit 9 to 5 altogether and start from scratch:
Working full-time while slowly building my business during evenings and weekends
At first, I thought I can work 9 to 5 and do some photography over weekends, slowly building up my business. After all, I know many people do just that and only launch into their businesses full-time after a few years being a part-time photographer/designer/whatever.
I have honestly tried. But I just couldn’t. It meant that I can only really photograph on Saturdays, as I still want to have some family time with my husband who works 6 days a week, leaving us only Sundays to spend together.
Doing anything meaningful in the evening after a full day in the office proved to be rather difficult too. Although naturally my best working time is in the evenings, being forced to work in the mornings meant that by the time I get home my brain is dead, and I can only squeeze about an hour of productive work out of it. And how the hell am I supposed to be talking to suppliers, when they all work Mondays to Fridays, 9 to 5?!
All this has led me to consider the next option,
Working 9-5 part time, and having 4 days a week (including weekends) to build my business before launching into it full-time
This was a good option. Still offered some security of a monthly pay check, and gave me more time to do what I love to do. I pretty much decided that that’s what I am going to go with, but then I though that I don’t really want to be working at my current job anymore. Nothing’s wrong with it as such, I do pretty much what I like to be doing, and learn a lot while still being paid for that, but 2 years at one place is more than I can handle.
I like change. When I was a kid, I used to rearrange furniture in my room every year. By myself. I moved my desk, and my shelves & wardrobes, and my bed. I couldn’t handle having the same stuff around me for very long. I bet bored instantly.
So I arrived at the last option, which was
Quit the 9 to 5 altogether and start my business full-time
I felt so invigorated and happy when I’ve decided that this is what I’m going to do, I realised it was the right decision to make. The only decision that’s going to work for me, in fact. I should’ve trusted my gut instinct that was telling me that all along!
A word of warning though, if it’s right for me, it doesn’t mean it’s right for you. What I’ve learn in the last 6 months or so, that there are no “correct” ways to do things. Everyone needs to figure it out for themselves. And that’s what’s so great about it.
I have asked my husband, or course, whether he’d be okay with loosing about a grand of monthly income (yep, my salary isn’t so great which made it so much more easier for me to let it go). He was fine with it (I think I nagged him about me not liking my job anymore for so long by that point, that he had no other option but let me do what I wanted to do).
The only thing he did was made me promise that I won’t get bored with photography in about a year’s time. I promised. After all, working for yourself means if you get bored, you can reinvent what you do, right?
So here I am. With my 1st March deadline, a house purchase and a move from London to Surrey on the horizon, no client list and many fears and “what ifs” buggering me 24 hours a day.
I have told everyone I know (outside work) that I’m going to do it, so that if I don’t I feel ashamed I didn’t stick to my plan. I’ve launched this blog. I am planning to hand in my resignation note sometime in mid-January, and I have a lot to do and set up and sort out until I leave to 9 to 5 job.
And I know I can handle it.
After all, I’ve done it once already, when I moved to England almost 5 years ago. Everyone told me I was barking mad to try and fulfill my dream. Some people still don’t quite understand why I’ve done it. But it worked out. And I’m glad I didn’t let other people’s opinions and my own fears stop me.
